escape.

Chapter 1

“Come on Katy, we will miss the plane if you don’t get up!!” Charly yells at me before throwing a pillow at me.

“Ah what time is it?” I say as she opens my blinds and the light blind me, I quickly seek cover from my doona I feel a small body jump on me and rip the covers back. “Mummy! Mummy! You need to get up.”

“Okay baby I’m up, have you finished packing?” I say as my overactive 3 year old drags me down the hallway to her bedroom. “No” She says as I take in a mess of clothes that I had packed away the previous night. “Panda! We don’t have time for this argh!” I shout as I quickly start repacking the suitcase.

“What are you doing we have to leave in an... shit” Charly says as she enters Pandora’s room. Pandora doesn’t seem worried as she sits on the floor playing with her favorite teddy bear. “Panda unpacked her suitcase” I say as I quickly get up and run to the shower, “How long till the cab gets here?” I yell as I enter the bathroom.

“An hour, you get ready I’ll start taking things downstairs.” I hear Charly say as I turn the shower on.

When I enter the lounge Panda is playing on Charly’s phone, “Where’s aunty Charly, Panda?” I ask as I place my bags on the ground of our empty apartment.

“I don’t know” she says with her eyes fixed to the screen. I say as I hear a knock on the front door, “Hey princess” Brad says as he walks towards Panda. “DADDY!” she screams and runs into his open arms. I decide to take my bag downstairs as Charly enters the apartment.

I start to walk back upstairs as the cab driver starts to back our bags into the cab. “The cab is here, time to go.” I say and pick up Panda’s backpack.

“Bye daddy” Panda says placing a small kiss to Brad’s cheek before following Charly out the door. “Bye Brad.” I say as I start towards the door only to be stopped by his hand grabbing my wrist. “Katy, I don’t to say goodbye like this.” His eyes look pleading but I know better. “Well maybe you should have thought of that before, shouldn’t you.” I say and walk down stairs and get into the cab without looking back.

“I’m hungry mummy” Panda says as we sit waiting for our plane to start boarding. I pull a banana from my bag and give it to her just as our plane is finally called to start boarding. “I can’t wait to get on this bloody plane.” I say to Charly as I pick up Panda so she doesn’t get lost in the crowd. Charly laughs before replying “Yeah, I’m so glad we finally got our acts together and decided to move.”

We have been on the plane for 5 hours already, and we still have 23 hours left. This is going to be one long flight I think to myself as I look over at Charly and Panda asleep next to me, they look so cute. I Take a photo of them and post it onto my instagram as I smile to myself.

“Is that your daughter?” The man across the isle smiles as he nods towards Panda. He’s gorgeous; he has electric blue eyes, blonde hair and a friendly smile.  

“Yeah” I smile back before looking down at her head on my lap and brushing her long blonde hair away from her face. “She’s beautiful, how old is she?” He asks, I can tell he isn’t trying to be nosy just wanting to make conversation. “She’s 3” I reply kindly.

After 2 hours of talking I learn the mans name is Niall, he’s from Ireland but he lives in London now and is flying home from Melbourne where he was visiting his cousins. He tells me all about London and what it’s like to live there. The way he describes makes me even more excited, Charly and Panda are still asleep as I try to move Panda without waking her and make my way to the bathroom.

When I get back to my seat Panda now has a jacket on her, I look over at Niall who is looking at me smiling. “I didn’t want her getting cold.” He says as I sit down. “Thanks” I say as Panda snuggles into me again.

“So we’ve been talking about me for a while now, let’s talk about you. What brings you to London?” He asks with a smile. “We needed a fresh start and felt like London was a good place to get it.” I say as Charly wakes up, “How long have I been asleep? Are we there yet?” she asks before standing up and stretching. “About 8 hours” I say and laugh as she makes a disgusted face. “I’m going to pee and buy some food.” She says before walking down the isle.

“That’s my best friend Charly, she needed a fresh start too and we can’t live without out each other” Niall and I laugh together. “I could show you the ropes of London, if you’d like?” He smiles as Charly returns with her arms packed with food. “Um yeah sure. If its not bother I’d love that.” I smile as Charly throws a packet of chips at me causing Panda to cry. “Shhh baby, it’s okay. Look what you did now” Panda climbs into my lap as I laugh and Charly takes her seat and looks at me sympathetically.

A few minutes later and Panda is asleep again. “I never asked what her name is?” Niall asks with glowing eyes as he looks at Panda. “It’s Pandora, but we call her Panda. Weird I know but I liked it.” I giggle as Charly looks at us with a questioning look. “Charly this is Niall” I realize she has been asleep the whole time Niall and I have been talking. “Hey, nice to meet you.” Charly says and reaches her hand out for Niall to shake.

The three of us talk for a few more hours until we all fall asleep.

I wake up to the air hostess speaking over the speakers stating that we will be landing. I wake Panda and Charly and we put on our seatbelts. Niall is already awake and has his on.  “Have a nice nap?” He smirks.

“Whose jacket is that that Panda is wearing?” Charly asks as we try to look for our luggage. “Shit” I say when I realize Panda still has Niall’s jacket but I’ve lost sight of him. Just as I start looking in the pocket to see if there’s something with his number on it I hear someone call my name. I turn to see Niall waving at us.

Niall is sitting a café place when we finally find all of our luggage. “Took your time” he teases while sipping his coffee. “Well sorry Mr. organized” I reply with a smile. “Do you need a lift to the place you’re staying at?” He asks as he dangles car keys in his hand.

“No it’s okay we will just get a ca” I start before Charly interrupts me. “That would be great thank you!” she says with a smirk on her lips.

“Wow you have such a nice car!” Charly says as Niall opens the boot of a black land rover. “Thanks but it’s not actually mine.” He laughs as he grabs our bags and puts them in the boot. “But there’s a car seat for Pandora” he smiles as he opens the back door.

Charly get in the back with Panda so I take the front seat next to Niall. “What’s the address?” he asks turning on the navigator.

“So whose car is it? It’s really nice!” Charly asks as we drive down the freeway. “My best friend leant it to me because when I left my car was in for a service and I couldn’t get to the airport so we swapped.” He states while turning the radio down.

We all make small talk as we drive to our new place which turns out to be just around the corner from Niall’s place. When we arrive the apartment block looks much better than the photos. “This is a great apartment block I’ve heard.” Niall says as he unloads our bags and helps us carry them up. Our apartment is on the fourth floor but thankfully there is a lift so we won’t have to use the stairs.

“Wow” Charly and I both say as we enter our new apartment. “This is so beautiful.” I say taking everything in. Our boxes have already been placed in the lounge room, Niall offers to stay and help us unpack some of the boxes and I’m thankful as there are a lot of boxes.

“It’s 6:30pm and I’m hungry” Charly says as Niall and I finish putting Panda’s bed together. “Yay my bed is finished” Panda says before jumping on it. “Yeah do you want to order some pizza?” I ask, feeling quite hungry myself. “Yes!” Both Panda and Charly say as Charly grabs her phone, Niall gives her the number of a good pizza shop and we convince him to stay and have pizza with us.

 After we set the TV up, Niall leaves and tells us he will come back and help us unpack more tomorrow. Panda falls asleep while watching the care bears movie we put on for her.

Charly and I finish unpacking everything for the kitchen before deciding to sleep. “I can’t wait to finally sleep, it’s been such a long day” I laugh as we head to our rooms. “Definitely hanging out to sleep” Charly replies before we say goodnight.